The Eighth Star, Act II: Harmony
by GuardAsh
Summary: After a long day of tests, a young boy wakes up in an unfamiliar world. He goes on to help the inhabitants of that world, growing along the way. A part of the Eighth Star universe, the second in the main series. T for language and combat


Welcome, readers! This is another story that I wrote while I was on hiatus. This is part of the "main story" of the whole bunch, though it is the second in the series. The first is currently being written by a friend of mine - most of that story is about his characters. Some historical information and plot points are taken from other fanfic writers, but I'll list them seperately, so as to avoid SPOILERS. MLP:FIM, MTG, The Elder Scrolls, and D&D are not owned by me.

* * *

"... So, we take the definite integral from zero to x of f of t with respect to t and differentiate it with respect to x, which is e to the x plus six times the natural log of x plus six, then we can simplify that by exponent rules to the natural log of x plus six to the quantity e to the quantity x plus six double end quantity, then the ln and e cancel, leaving x plus six quantity squared."

Jacob sighed as he stepped back from the board. For being one of the top students in his Honors Calculus III/Differential Equations class, his handwriting was atrocious, given his usual neatness. Perhaps it had to do with how complex the math was. Much of it came easily enough, but remembering so many different formulae and shortcuts was getting harder.

His teacher came over and inspected his work.

"Good job, Jacob. No flaws that I can see."

Jacob smiled in reply, sat down, then got back to work on his late work, which he had quite a bit of, given his tendency to procrastinate. He glanced at the clock.

 _Only two-thirty? I could've sworn I spent longer than five minutes working on that problem…_

Grumbling to himself, Jacob went back to his work. One specific problem caught his eye, being one that was easily mistaken.

 _Find the derivative._

15) _f_ ( _x_ )=(ln( _x_ ))^ _ **e**_ (A.N. If you're in Calculus and want to try this, go ahead.)

With a smile, Jacob wrote down the answer, having not been fooled thanks to a book that he liked to read.

Suddenly, the bell rang, causing him to jump. He hadn't realized how much time had passed!

"Alright, I'll see you all on Monday!" His teacher enthusiastically exclaimed. Jacob packed his things up, putting them into his bag, then headed out of the room. Once he had grabbed his viola, he pulled out his phone, a "classic" LG flip phone, which he was deeply satisfied with, because, as he once put it, "It can call people and send text messages, which is all I need it to do, and nothing else."

He pushed "2", then tapped the Call key, speed-dialing his mother. She didn't pick up, likely dealing with the rowdy kindergarten students again. Sadly, she hadn't changed her exceedingly obnoxious voicemail greeting. Jacob groaned as he waited for the message to play out, then brought his phone up to his ear again.

"Hey, Mom. On my way home. I'll see you there. 'Bye."

With a practiced flick of the wrist, he snapped his phone shut, slid it into the holster at his waist, and started to walk home.

* * *

Once Jacob arrived at home, he dumped his bag in the bin where it belonged, laid his viola over by the piano, then got on his phone and called his mother again. When there was no response yet again, he sighed.

"Hey, Mom. I'm home. Got some homework to do, and I'm checking Skyward, see if anything new's come up. Got a bunch of signatures for you to check in, too. I…" His voice seized up momentarily. "Please, come home soon. I miss you. Bye."

He shut his phone once more, then woke up the computer in the kitchen. Opening up Skyward Family Access, he typed in his information.

 **Username:** *******

 **Password:** ********

Upon the opening of the window, Jacob smiled.

 _Good, nothing new. That means I'm all caught up,_ he thought to himself. Opening a private window, he navigated to FanFiction and logged in. Checking his favorites and finding no new updates, he groaned.

"Come on, again? What's taking you so long, Saphroneth?" He spoke to the screen.

There was a rattling at the door, and someone who Jacob assumed was his younger brother walked in.

"Jacob, I'm home!" He said. "And I did remember to lock the door!"

Jacob chuckled inwardly. _Yup, definitely my brother._ "Good!" Jacob yelled back, closing the window and putting the computer back to sleep, then rising to get to work on his homework.

* * *

 _Later that evening…_

Jacob yawned and stretched as he lay in his bed. It had been a rather tiring evening, but tomorrow, he would _finally_ get to play the new _Legend of Zelda_ game he had just bought! While the excitement made it relatively difficult to fall asleep, he soon slipped off into blackness.

* * *

 _Oh, ye who would be the savior of this realm… Come!_

 _Come, for your aid is needed!_

* * *

Jacob groaned as he stirred, grabbing for a blanket that wasn't there. Immediately, he burst awake, finding himself in a forest, on the ground. Strangely enough, his clothes had no mudstains on them, and-

 _When did I put on clothes?_

Glancing around, Jacob realized something: This was no forest he knew. There were very few recognizable trees, and they looked twisted, as if someone had just bent them every which way and then left them to grow. It was a mixed-growth forest, but the old trees were _old_ , a good century at the least. Sadly, there seemed to be no indication of which way was out, unless Jacob climbed a tree. Scrambling up one of the taller trees, he poked his head above the canopy. Thankfully, the moon was out, but…

"Okay, what in Tartarus is up with the sky?"

Jacob didn't recognize any of the constellations, and even the moon looked different, the pattern of seas on it having shifted position. Then, a familiar pattern of stars caught his eye.

"Oh, hang on, there's the Big Dipper, so...Aha, there's Ursa Minor, so that means Polaris is… that one. Ha, thank you, Mr. Bruen. Always knew astronomy would come in handy someday. Oh!" Jacob had spotted a cluster of lights on the ground. "Civilization! So, if Polaris is there, that means I need to go… That way."

Clambering down, he dropped the last few yards to the ground, then, upon regaining his bearings, set off towards the settlement.

* * *

Jacob was _exhausted_. He had spent at least two days in the forest, and was tired, hungry, thirsty, and _way_ too worried for his own good. He had found a path that looked like it led towards the settlement, but Jacob was getting very discouraged.

Thankfully, after several incidents, the most notable of which involved nearly falling off a very large cliff, Jacob had finally emerged from the forest. Seeing the settlement in the distance, he inwardly grinned. He began to stumble towards the nearest house, which seemed to be the local veterinarians clinic, given the amount of animals crowded around it. As he approached the door, he unfortunately scared off much of the critters, but pounded on the wooden door, slumping on the frame in exhaustion.

After a short pause, he heard someone call out "Coming!" from within. The speaker was likely female, soft-spoken, but gentle. Then, there were approaching footsteps, but in an odd tripled pattern.

 _Maybe they're hurt?_ One side of him said.

 _Shut up. Too tired,_ Replied the other.

At last, the door opened, revealing (oddly enough) a butter-yellow pegasus, around three and a half feet in height, with a sunset-pink mane and tail and sky-blue eyes (in the wrong position, binocular rather than peripheral, the side of him not too tired to think noticed). Exhausted, Jacob fell forward, unable to stop himself. Before he hit the floor, however, the pegasus caught him.

"Oh, my- Are you alright?" She (at least, Jacob thought it was a she) worried.

"So… Tired… Hungry…" He panted. "Just… Rest… food…"

He sank into blackness, but just before that, he heard the pegasus call out, "Angel! I need a bed, please!"


End file.
